My Blog

Yesterday I had my first ever disaster with Dull Cote. I had almost completed the job, and I sprayed the fronts of the shields (fortunately, as it turned out, not yet glued to the figures) with Dull Cote. Five minutes later, they had 'crazed' and looked like a 500-year-old oil painting - UGH! So they had to be stripped and redone... …

A couple of days ago, whilst thinking about expanding my armies, I was wondering about how to get more variety into the army - particularly the Sassanid infantry units, which are probably going to end up being quite large. And then I heard a faint bell ringing, somewhere deep in my memory. A bit of googling later, and I had found the website of the …

You may remember that I recently reviewed Anthony's book "Empire - Wounds of Honour", and said some fairly 'to the point' things about it. Well, he and I have exchanged a few emails, and I think we understand each other. I have also re-read some chunks of the book and I think I've changed my mind!

Hello again everyone. I have finished another unit - the last unit of Romans in my planned 1,000 point WAB force. And my elbow isn't sore. This is a first - it doesn't even feel bruised. I managed to do most of the paint without leaning on my elbows - only leaning on them for the really fiddly bits. …

Yesterday, a fairly new company, Aventine Miniatures, announced on TMP the release of a new model of a Sasanian king mounted on an elephant. It looks like a wonderful model, so I ordered one! I can't wait for it to arrive. It doesn't fit in my previously planned army list, but it's too nice to ignore, so my plan will have to change! …

I was looking again at the 'army list' for my 1,000 point Roman force. I am not sure about the lanciarii being 'light' infantry - indeed, I'm not even sure they're all infantry - some at least, seem to have been cavalry. I just can't decide how to treat them - the more I read, the more confused I become - maybe I'll just assume that the spear-armed guys in the back ranks of my legionary cohorts are in some sense lanciarii. …

Hello all, my poor old elbow is rather sore again. Something about the way I'm leaning on it to paint at the moment upsets it - a couple of weeks ago it blistered. I thought it had healed okay, but it became really sore again over the weekend, despite my being away from my painting table. I think I'm going to have to take a break from painting for another few days. …

As I'm getting towards the end of this part of my 'Fire in the East' project, I'm wondering what to do next? I need some desertified terrain boards if I'm going to play any good-looking games with them. I can use the figures on my 'temperate' boards, but they look pretty naff. I probably need other stuff too - like rocky ground, palm trees (I have some of the Pegasus Models kits sitting around waiting to be used), more buildings, and maybe an oasis. …

Well, that's another unit down, and only two to go - Sasanian Clibanarii (super-heavy cavalry), and Roman lanciarii (javelin-armed legionaries - I think - their exact status and equipment is a bit controversial!). Oh yes, and a standard-bearer for the Romans!

It's rather worrying... The water which had grown used to seems to have stopped falling from the sky. The sky has changed from its customary tasteful shades of grey into a rather garish blue, and there's this strange bright thing in it that's making me squint. Think I'd better go and draw the curtains and hide under the bed-clothes until it stops.

I don't know when this entry will appear on the WWW - I arrived home to find my internet connection on the blink. But when it does, you'll be able to read it! (Blimey, this bloke's logic is impeccable, innit?)

Anyway, at 06:00 this morning, my lad Tim and I leapt (well staggered sleepily) into the car and set off for Newark on Trent, at which we arrived in a timely 2 1/2 hours, fairly fresh and unstressed. …

My wife had a telephone call from her brother last evening, regarding her parents and their ongoing feud, so she didn't sleep well. Consequently, neither did I. So I am struggling to concentrate properly today. I keep starting something, then having an idea about something else, and starting that, before having an idea about something else...

Well, I seem to have begun writing some rules - my elbow is rather too sore for comfortable painting - it seems to have become blistered, perhaps because of spending too long leaning on it, painting. Maybe I'll become famous for being the first person to suffer from a new medical ailment: "wargame figure painter's elbow". …